Giving thanks on Thanksgiving

I am sitting here nearly baked out. For me the fun of the actual Thanksgiving day is the baking and preparing. If I had nothing to do or bake it just wouldn't be the same for me. So to make this holiday extra special I took it upon myself to make 4 different desserts as well as the mashed potatoes and homemade cranberry sauce. I think I like to make pies for the challenge of the crust. I even chill all the ingredients including my wooden rolling pin to do everything in my power to make that pie crust as beautiful and flaky as possible. I made a pumpkin and apple crumb pie, then a pumpkin cheesecake roll, that looks so pretty when cut all swirled up. Then for the first time ever I made a pumpkin cream cheese creme caramel. It looks basically like a glorified flan with pumpkin and spices. I've had it in the back of my recipe box for the past year or so and I finally tried it. I can't wait to find out how tasty it is. Oh, and our home teacher brought us by a banana creme and berry pie from Kneaders. I think we will be set for dessert, you think?

We have had the Macey's day parade on today as we have made our preparations. I thankfully have a wonderful husband that also cooks and bakes. He is able and willing to do whatever I ask of him but knows I'm a tad particular about the details and how things look, so he generally sticks to things like potatoes that don't have to look that great.

One of my dreams would be to one day go to New York city the week before or after Thanksgiving, to enjoy the sites and smells, and shops of course for Christmas. Last year Rand and I had the chance to spend a few days down town NY while he had some business meetings. I tagged a long of course and enjoyed a few days of alone time exploring the city and attending "Wicked". We loved every minute of our experience and would like to return many more times and for a much longer period of time. I think I am truly a city girl at heart but for now am content being a Mother to my great kids.

On that note, I know that Thanksgiving is a lot more than pies and potatoes. I love this season that gives us a little more time to reflect on the many things we are blessed with. We have been very blessed this year in many ways. Randall has been very blessed in his work and we are so grateful to have not just work but in a place where he wants to continue his career. We enjoyed our first "real" vacation as our own family at Disneyland for a week, one of my favorite places on earth. We are living in a comfortable home and have been blessed with health and strength. We are expecting our 4th child, something I don't take lightly. There are so many people I know that struggle to have a child or who have lost a child this past year. It is truly a miracle and blessing to have 3 healthy and happy(some of the time) kids. Monday we have our first ultrasound and initially thought we weren't going to find out the sex of the baby, but being the planner I am I can't stand it anymore and have to know what this baby is going to be. We are hoping to find a healthy growing baby and don't care even the tiniest bit whether the baby is a boy or girl. Anna wishes we were having a dog instead of a baby but you can't make everybody happy.

Well, I could go on and on and feel very blessed and know I have much to be grateful for. I hope you all have a Happy Thanksgiving and blessed holiday season.